On local and global conjugacy (Q2515616)

Let \(G\) and \(H\) be complex reductive groups, with \(H\) connected. Given two homomorphisms of linear algebraic groups \(\rho, \rho':H \to G\), there are several types of conjugacy considered in the paper. We say that \(\rho\) and \(\rho'\) are locally conjugate if for \(h \in H\) in a Zariski dense subset of \(H\), \(\rho(h)\) and \(\rho'(h)\) are conjugate in \(G\). We say that \(\rho\) and \(\rho'\) are globally conjugate if there exists \(g\in G\) such that \(\rho'(h) = g \rho(h) g^{-1}\) for all \(h \in H\). Finally, we say that \(\rho\) and \(\rho'\) are conjugate in image if \(\rho(H)\) and \(\rho'(H)\) are conjugate in \(G\). Local conjugacy without global conjugacy is related to the failure of multiplicity one in the theory of automorphic forms. This paper studies \(G=\mathrm{SO}(2N, \mathbb{C})\). In this case, if \(\rho, \rho':H \to G\) are locally conjugate, then they either are globally conjugate or differ by an outer automorphism. The author classifies all even dimensional orthogonal irreducible representations which are locally conjugate but not globally conjugate in image.